Last year we were introduced to a whole bunch of well-executed Android mid-rangers made by Sony Ericsson: the Xperia ray, Xperia neo, and Xperia mini, to name a few. Fast forward to 2012 and Sony is on its own, but will it manage to keep on delivering decent hardware at a reasonable price? Well, let's find out!

What we are reviewing today is the Sony Xperia sola, which comes with a 3.7-inch LCD display, 5-megapixel camera, NFC, “floating touch” technology (more on that later), and most importantly, a dual-core processor clocked at 1GHz: a specs sheet that has “mid-range” written all over it. Care to know how it performs in real life? Then read along...

The box contains:

Wall charger

Data cable

Wired stereo headset

2 SmartTags

microSIM adapter

Quick start guide and other papers

Design:

The Sony Xperia sola is clearly not meant to be used as a fashion accessory. Instead of curved, shiny elements we have a plastic candy-bar body with a soft touch finish applied to its back. And in all honesty, we like it! That is because the smartphone feels nice to the touch and gives us the impression of a well-built versatile tool – a tool that you will mostly use to do stuff, not just pose around with. Perhaps the thicker than usual display bezel is the only thing that we are not too crazy about, but we don't consider that a deal breaker by any means.

If jumbo-sized smartphones are not your cup of tea, the Xperia sola will most likely suit your preferences for its size is ideal for single-handed operation. It will fit inside pretty much any pocket or purse as well: the unit has a thickness of 9.9 millimeters and weighs 107 grams.

We have no complaints about the trio of capacitive Android buttons, located underneath the smartphone's display. Same can be said about the lock key and 2-button volume rocker, which reside on the device's right side. The 2-stage camera button, however, leaves room for improvement. Pressing it half-way is not much of a problem, but then pushing it all the way down requires excessive force to be exerted.

Android buttons

Left edge

Right

Top

Bottom

The sides of the Sony Xperia sola

Back

Camera

Battery compartment

Display:

The LCD display on the Xperia sola measures 3.7 inches in diagonal and has a resolution of 480 by 854 pixels, which translates into a relatively high pixel density (265ppi). As a result, graphics look detailed and fine text does not require much effort to be read. On top of that, we are pretty satisfied with the display's accurate color reproduction. Blacks, however, do not look as deep as they do on some other display types, such as AMOLED and S-LCD panels. In addition, there is a barely noticeable motion blur, which might be annoying in some rare cases. Fortunately, the display is bright enough to ensure relatively comfortable operation in broad daylight.

Sony Xperia sola 360-degrees View:

Drag the picture or use the keyboard arrows to rotate the phone.
Double click or press keyboard Space to zoom in/out

I think docking points off an Android for not launching with ICS shouldn't be allowed. I'm sure when Sony was developing this phone, they did so with Gingerbread in mind. And also, if an update is coming in Summer, what's a couple months of waiting.? PA and other mobile reviewing websites should know that most new Android phones aren't going to be released with ICS. There are still manufacturers releasing phones on Froyo for goodness sakes.!

I for one know exactly how unreliable Google Android upgrades can be when it comes down to the promises made for Xperia models of 2011 and up, so you should not be surprised if both summer and autumn passes by, and still no ICS upgrade is available.

Dear Nick T...when you review a phone, check what you have written and go through it once again!
On page one i see an image of the phone showing the "front-facing camera" and look what you wrote on the CONS corner...number 2 to be exact!!!!

I had high expectations from the NovaThor chipset.. but sadly, its not as power efficient.. The 1320MaH battery puts it in the league of budget androids...and we all know how they fare in terms of stamina...Very dissapointed at the non removable/upgradable battery thats as low as the Galaxy Ace, and Galaxy Ace was very poor in battery department..
I have seen the Floating Touch gimmick is a pain to use...its already difficult clicking links on such small screens, imagine aiming ur finger above a link!! Saw the video by gsmarena...looks tedious and very time consuming. No wonder other manufacturers have ditched this technology

I had a look & played with the HTC 1V & Sola. They are very similar in price, size & spec. IMHO, I find that the 1V is laggy probably due to the 1core pocessor. Built-in memory is only 4GB as compare to Sola 8GB. On the plus side, is a well built solid phone, the screen display is better than the Sola & comes out of the box with ICS. On the whole I would still prefer the Sola & I bought one.
Good mid-range decent size phone & gets its job done.

I'm torn between this phone and HTC One V. Sola obviously has better specs, but HTC One V seems to have a better camera with more features. ICS out of the box as well. Also has other features like Beats audio and has better battery life as well.

I had purchased Xperia sola on 27.07.2012 from mobile store. I have hardly used it because I had just inserted the sim on 05.08.2012. But already I am facing 2 big problems :
1. The leftmost letters of the qwerty keypad are not working most of the time.
2. Very very poor battery back up. I dont play games or listen to music till now, just surf the net for 30 mins to 1 hour a day. But even after charging fully the battery doesn't even last for a full day while I am also using the power saver mode to save battery.

I already contacted the sony customer care executive on 08.08.2012 and asked for a replacement. But he told me that it can be replaced only within 7 days from purchase date. He told me to do a factory reset but that didn't work too. Now I have to visit sony service center and the phone can only be repaired.
I am very very dissapointed with sony which I trusted blindly as I was super happy with the Bravia led and DSC HX 100v digicam which I have.

I don't know if the problems you're are facing are genuine or not, but the phone works fine. The point that forced me to comment was your disapproval on Sola's good battery life. Dude, you're totally wrong. The cellphone can run for two days even if you use the internet for an hour or so everyday. With that, you can also listen to an hour of music, that too in each day. Note that apart from this, you can use the cell for texting and calls.

Very worst mobile,,,,
I purchase mobile on the month of february 26th I was used only 10 days aftr that I got problems continiousyly also every time I have to wait for giving and getting delivery in service center.

I have used only one month remaning 9 months my mobile was in service center.I have given for 5 times for same problem,

1, Three times software updated
2, Two times motherbord swaped (replaced)
3, Two times battery replaced

No proper response from any service center hope will display all details in your tools..
for me 6days loss of pay because of this. Not have free time to go any other new service center, Recently from 11th june onwords am not using this mobile facing lots of problem cont able to use,still my EMI has not yet closed.am the one in world without using mobile and paying EMI.
when ever I cal to sonycare they guys telling same contact service center that,s...
Can you please taken care my issues and replace my mobile ASAP.
I already talked with service center executive while I swaped mother board he said in future if u get same problem means will replace new mobile.

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